The Boat On Land

B.O.A.T.–Bring on another thousand!
Palm Sunday, 2015—Joe and I took a drive to Vero Beach to visit Joe’s Mom and Dad. We were sitting in a restaurant having lunch, and Joe started to tell of our recent discovery in a way to drop my usually high blood pressure. Our neighbors, Rick and Jean, had acquired a Pontoon boat and had been trying to get us out on the boat for a while. Unfortunately our schedule had kept us from joining them. Then one night, everything fell into place and we took off across Lake Santa Fe. Joe told his parents how he immediately saw me relax as soon as we hit the water.
Dad looked at Mom and Mom looked at Dad and before we knew what happened, we owned Dads 1975 17-foot Glasspar Runabout Bow Rider. Joe was overjoyed. I think some of my iced tea flew out of my nose.
We made arrangements to come to Vero Beach a few weeks later to tow the boat to its new home in Gainesville. Joe located a boat mechanic and made arrangements for him to come over to inspect the boat. Since Mom and Dad had not had the boat in water since 1989 and it was covered in a barn for all those years , we thought that would mean surely it would be just a few touch ups and tune ups to get us in the water. Well the boat mechanic came and Joe was like Tigger, bouncing all over the place with excitement. AND THEN the verdict was pronounced…while the motor could be operational for about $300 the rest of the boat was a different story. As the mechanic told us “the engine is pretty much fine but the first time you put it in the water and hit the throttle, the back of the boat would break off and the boat would sink”.

Tigger turned into Eyore. The mechanic took one look at Joe’s face and started making calls to see how much it would cost to repair. After 3 calls telling him to take it to the dump, the mechanic told Joe he would take it on and work on it in his spare time.

Joe & Ed with the boat’s newest motor.

After Joe heard what the experts had to say, he called his Dad. His Dad called him back about an hour later and said he had been on YouTube and wanted to come to Gainesville to start the repairs. While very sweet, it was not a good idea. There’s only so much you can learn on YouTube.
Since then, Joe has taken every opportunity to tell guests about his parents’ “gift”. Two of our favorite guests, Ed and Nancy, who live in Chapel Hill, NC, heard about the boat on one of their visits. The next time they came down to Gainesville, Ed gave Joe his 1982 British Seagull 2 HP motor that he had restored. I guess Ed wanted to make sure that once we get into the water, that we actually make it back to shore.
*As of this writing, the boat is still not rebuilt but it’s ok because it’s so hot we are heading to Georgia in July.